22 july thursday - i flew mas to kuching. I was all nicely checked in. Even had an e-boarding pass on my iPhone.
From bangsar it was just a short hop to klsentral. As i got to the station there were all these erl boys in purple so i waved for one to help me with the luggage. This guy did a great job and even loaded the luggage bags at the check in counter for the luggage drop after waiting for me to buy the train ticket.
At check in counter i asked the mas staff if i could have a boarding pass printed and he said no. I was kind of puzzled why not. Anyway, i forgot to ask him which gate to board at and he also didn't tell me. Would be good if the mas staff could be trained to prompt passengers on important information like boarding gate number. It was not given for web check in.
Yippee i thought. I could drop off the luggage so i did not have to rush to klia to meet the 60min baggage drop deadline. So i thought i must have saved 30 minutes there for me to browse at the shops.
Turned out that it was a luxury i didn't have. I should have factored in time WAITing for the train. Not sure why i had the impression that there'd be a train at least every 10min, if not every 5 min. Maybe it used to be. It was a thursday afternoon at 3, not a weekend.
So it was annoying when i went down to the platform and found out that the next train would only leave in 18min! And there were a few passengers there waiting. So it could be more than 18 min. There i was sitting waiting, my schedule was out of whack, fretting about about missing the flight. And nothing to do in the dinghy platform as I got there waiting for the train. I felt kind of silly. I wanted to get a novel to read on board thinking i'd get something at the klia bookstore. But all that time was now just used to wait at the platform.
There should be a big light box signage showing the immediate 2 train departure times at the ticket counter. S'pose I should have asked when the next train would be when i bought the train ticket. Why didn't the erl staff prompt me? A little service like that does not add any additional cost and there was no one queuing. It's these little questions like where are you heading or what time is your flight, that adds that caring touch.
Another annoying thing, as i was walking along the platform, i actually saw a sign flashing with arrows that read train boarding here. So the kwailow lady in front of me started hurrying and i started hurrying. And of course when we got to where the sign pointed there was no train there waiting. In a normal average day, i would have been able to share a joke with the lady. But today i was simply fretting deeply inside.
On the train i was trying hard to relax and enjoy the view and not fret about the delay. After the initial slum section of the city, the view began to get greener. We went past the beautiful university pertanian grounds with its paddocks and open fields and cows and streams. And i was relaxed. Then the big sized guy seated across from me was talking on the phone. And he said something about not being able to check in at klsentral and would have to see if he could check in at klia.
We got to klia and I ran towards the lift. I was quite fast. Then I saw the big sized guy quickly got into the lift too and so did the kwailow lady and some other guys. As the lift opened at the departure floor the 3 of us started dashing out, i couldn't help feeling like we were in one of those movies where the story line covered lives of different people who do not yet know how their lives were to be connected. And i felt i knew these people. Our commonality was running late.
So i ran to look at the big board to search for mh2528 and i found that boarding was at gate B 4 and it was still open for boarding. Now the thing about klia is it is big and it took a lot of steps to get to the domestic doorway entrance. Luckily the guys in blue did not take long to check boarding pass and screen bags despite a queue of 5 in front. So it was a relief to find B4 was not that far to get to and finally to be greeted by the super friendly mas staff at gate B4. i asked, do i have time to go to the toilet. And he smiled and said yes, just out there. And another mas staff waited for me to finish talking to my husband on the phone as i told him I made it to the boarding gate and then the mas staff so politely showed me which side of the skybrige to use.
As i got on the plane i told the mas staff at the pantry i had dry throat could he toss me some water. He actually filled up a cup of water for me and another staff waited at my seat and helped put up my backpack in the overhead compartment. I flew economy yet from the ground counter to the plane it felt like business class. And i was more than happy to have a lovely free meal on board of satay with fried rice together with pink guava juice and fruitcake and 3 ferreros. It was all too irresistible for someone with blood sugar issues and i ate everything but made serious effort to save the ferreros. (I'll deal with the doctor another day.) So there I was enjoying the flight (even without a good book). I couldn't believe i paid a lower price than if i had flown airasia for this journey.
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